lovethosefish

I got a pleco last night . I last saw him @ 12:30 am , @ 5am he was no where to be found . I moved everything in the tank except some bigs rocks that I can see all sides of .
I looked all around the tank on the floor and now am in the process of trying to break a very thick sea shell ( not much luck on that ).
He is about 3 inches long , so he is not small , not alot of places for him to hide .

any ideas

baffled

Lucy

Have you checked on the heater or on the extension tube to your filter? My daughter had one for a short time, thats where her's like to hang out.
Is your tank covered? Is it possible he could have jumped out?
I hope you find him, good luck.

MissMTS

I actually went through the same thing with my 2 synodontis catfish when I fist got them. They hid for the first week and then started coming out. Sometimes if you have hollow decorations they can hide up inside of those. When I started moving stuff around in the tank it made them harder to find. You may just want to let them be and you will see them in a few days. Best of luck to you.

Barbrella

This seashell - is the opening big enough for him to have entered?

I lost my baby bristlenose pleco for a day.

He was in the filter. Luckily, he entered through the outflow (since they like a strong current) and wasn't hurt.

Take your filter apart and maybe you'll find yours. I hope he's okay!!

lovethosefish

theres no way he could get in the filter , and the shell is huge plenty of roon to get in and out of it . I emptied it of water tried to break it ( that didnt happen ) and shook it as hard as I could . there was no sound in it so he isnt in there.
My 3 year old and I have searched with flash lights around and under everything , no luck. It must have gotten out and one of the cats or dogs probably got hold to it .
I got another one this evening and this time I covered the back of the tank . He( Denzel #3 ) is smaller but seems more active than Denzel #2. My 3 yr old ( Denzel #1 ) named them both LOL . Thanks for all your help !

Barbrella

I didn't think mine could get in the filter either. Do you have a power filter hanging on the back of the tank?

lovethosefish

I have a canister filter . He was to big to get into the filter . It has heater hooked to the intake and very thin slats . so I am sure he couldnt have gotten in there . I just hope we find it before it starts to stink . I have been watching the cats and dogs all day hoping they would give me a sign where the Pleco might be , but nothing .

Sabi

Sometimes they get into a place you you will never guess they can get in!

lovethosefish

How exciting , just went to my tank to look @ my pleco , only to discover there are 2 . He is back ! Denzel #2 is sitting right next to Denzel#3 . Howcool is that ? HE IS ALIVE !

MissMTS

Isn't that wierd how they can hide from you. You can completely turn the tank inside out looking for them and they turn up a few days later. I wonder where they go? The same happened with both of mine.

susitna-flower

He was just a little baby that needed a friend!

My bet is on the shell. You know they can stick their fins out and "hold on". They can survive out of water for quite awhile...

The thing is they WILL jump also, so now that you have had a scare....keep it tightly covered, and watch those cats!

I am glad he's back.

What size is your tank? What kind of pleco? Will your tank have room for 2?

lovethosefish

I have a 75 gallon , but I know I will have more inches of fish than I gallons of water. But my husband is going to get a 150 gallon in the basement ( THE HOLE ) , so we wil thin them out before they are grown .
MY BABIES
2 balloon mollies 6inches
2 swordtail 10inches
1 silver molly 3inches
1 black molly 3inches
3 dalmation mollies 12inches
4 striped danio 8inches
2 platy 4inches
1 large angel 6inches
1 gold gourami 6inches
1 blue gourami 5inches
1 female betta 2 1/2inches
2 pleco 36inches
1 ropefish ( eel ) 18inches
2 albino sharks 12inches

so I come up with 143 inches of fish as adults . So yeah they will absolutley have to be thinned out in the next couple of months .
I love them all . I am going to keep both pleco ( Denzel#2 & Denzel #3 ) , and was thinking about getting another ropefish ( Oliver ) , and silver molly . they both look lonely .
what do you think . Will they adjust to not having another like themselves or do they need fish in the tank that look like them ? My single black molly and my angel are also alone but seem fine with that . Sometimes I think my female betta looks lonely , every time I add someone new to the tank she is the first one to go check out the bags floating .
I thought the silver molly and the black molly would hang out since they are really the same type fish , just different color . The silver molly looks really scared and stays by herself . My black molly is a boy , but doesnt seem interested in her .
My angel fish (Herman ) is the peace maker in the tank , allows NO aggrestion in the tank . If my gold gourami is trying to bully the little guys , the angel chases OneDot away . They are all so cool !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

angelfish220

Instead of another ropefish why dont you get Herman a buddy? I bet he would like a buddy. The silver molly wont buddy up with the other mollies? Is it a he or she? are the other mollies mean to it when Herman isnt looking or does it try to stay by itself? It might just be the fish's personallity so you never know.

lovethosefish

Herman doesnt need a buddy , he seems fine by himself . And the other fish never bother him , he is the peacemaker in the tank . Silver molly ( female ) was just added last night and has not buddied up yet , but I hope she will since the black molly is a boy and I really dont need to add anything else to the tank . But there is no one for the ropefish to buddy up with . I just added him to the family last night to and my lfs said he would be ok alone , there is no one for him to buddy up with . I dont want him to be lonely .

Morph

In my experience if a pleco don't want to be found, you won't find him...

Allie

We recently found a 2" bn pleco that we thought we had lost awhile ago...they are sneaky buggers.

Morph

I gave up panicing looking for them in the morning or at night.

steveangela1

lol... I have paco and he is about 2 and a half inches long.. and a larger pleco... the larger pleco well you cant miss his big butt! but paco! I have also nicknamed him waldo and I play a game w/ my 5 year old called where the heck is waldo... well for about 3 days we haven't seen waldo until about 5 min ago when I turned the overhead light on to "peek" in and he was sitting on an alge wafer... little sneek!